By Mike Hoban
Ben Butler – Written by Richard Strand. Directed by Joseph Discher. Scenic Design by Gregory Trochil; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Russ Swift. Presented by Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester through August 25
In the opening scene of Ben Butler, the first thing we learn is that Virginia has just seceded from the Union. While this news hardly seems remarkable – given that play is set during the Civil War in the Fort Monroe office of Butler, a Union Army General – what we don’t realize is how important that detail will be to the string of events that will change the course of American history. If you’re thinking that Ben Butler sounds like an educational historical drama, nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, this Gloucester Stage production is an often laugh out loud funny re-imagining of a historic meeting between two very different but remarkably similar individuals – one a General, the other a slave.
Major General Butler, a lawyer with about six weeks of military experience under his formidable belt, announces the news of the secession to his aide Lieutenant Kelly, a West Point graduate, with all of the excitement of a man commenting on the weather to a stranger. Kelly is there on much more important business – to inform the General that there is a runaway slave, Shepard Mallory, outside his door “demanding” to see him. But this is no ordinary slave, Kelly informs Butler, as he’s “obnoxious and arrogant”. While true to some extent, he is also uncharacteristically educated and in possession of his own lawyerly brand of irrefutable logic – making him a surprisingly well-matched intellectual sparring partner for fellow iconoclast Butler.
Mallory has come to the fort seeking sanctuary, along with two other slaves. However, according to the Fugitive Slave Act, Butler must uphold the law and return him to his rightful owner – despite the fact that it will almost certainly lead to death for Mallory. With Butler being a staunch supporter of the law, it appears that there is no way around the inevitable, until Mallory tells Butler that he “heard that a good lawyer can always use convoluted reasoning to find a loophole” in the law. The wheels start turning, and the play kicks into comic high gear.
Ben Butler owes as much of its storytelling technique to an episode of Hogan’s Heroes as it does to early 20th century playwrights like George Bernard Shaw. There are times when playwright Richard Strand’s dialogue doesn’t do a very good job of moving the narrative forward, as in the lengthy opening scene where Butler plays a riddle game with Kelly using the word “astonished” that feels more like an overly long introduction to a 70’s rock song. But he also combines it with a sitcom-ish zaniness where basic military protocol is thrown completely out the window, making it as plausible as well, the aforementioned Hogan’s Heroes plot. Despite the clash in styles, it works really well most of the time, and the ingeniousness of Butler’s plan to avoid returning the slaves makes us forget about the inconsistencies.
What makes this play work as well as it does is the cast, beginning with Ames Adamson, who plays the colorful Ben Butler. As I watched him early on in the production I couldn’t help but thinking I had seen this character before. “Doesn’t he remind you of Frank Morgan from the Wizard of Oz?” I asked my friend when it struck me, suppressing a laugh. Whether intentional or not, Adamson does seem to be channeling Morgan, and it serves the characterization wonderfully. In real life, Butler was a Massachusetts congressman, elected governor of Massachusetts in 1882, and was a presidential candidate during the election of 1884, so he was no stranger to the spotlight.
As Shepard Mallory, Shane Taylor fully embodies the character of the educated slave, frequently keeping his eyes downcast even as he shreds Butler’s arguments, then rising up when he realizes his life is on the line. Douglass Bowen-Flynn captures the essence of Lieutenant Kelly’s career military man while allowing for a softer side as Butler’s crazy plan begins to crystallize, and David Debeck is an able Major Cary, who has comes to collect his superior’s “property”.
Overall, Ben Butler is a good comic take, and although the topic is slavery, the final outcome of the event makes laughing out loud feel a lot more comfortable. If the audience reaction at the opening is any indicator, this production should be a crowd-pleaser throughout the run. For tickets and information, go to: https://gloucesterstage.com/
One interesting side note: The day after the production opened, crews removed the lettering that honored Confederate President Jefferson Davis at Virginia’s Fort Monroe National Monument, where the play is set. To read more, click here.
